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| The winning team with the panel of judges |
Year 10 Educational
Challenge Day - Report by James Gander
What better way to
get students interested in the world of business than to give them a day to
create their own business plans, design products and pitch them to a panel of
expert judges? You can’t think of anything? Oh! Well, luckily for you then,
this is exactly what Year 10 students did last Wednesday, 20th
November.
The day began with
a brief in the main hall, explaining that we had to create a new fashion brand
as a social enterprise to support a local charity. Everyone then split off into their PSHE groups
and then into groups of between four and six people, and began to mind map all
the ideas they could think of for their new brand.
Once each group had
picked an idea to develop further for their final pitch, we had three lessons
to plan everything – including pricing, business structure, products, marketing
and channels of distribution. With some time in a computer room for each group,
we also researched competitors and existing products on the market to ensure
our product was unique, desirable and reasonably priced. During our planning and preparation time we
were given help, ideas and support by some of the business experts that would
be judging the finalists later in the day. Everything began to get a little tense as the
end of lesson 4 approached, and each group was finalising their pitch
(hopefully!).
During lesson 5
each group presented their idea to two judges and the rest of their PSHE group,
and a winner was chosen from all six classes to go forward to the finals in
front of all the business experts during lesson 6. In my class ideas ranged from an app enabling
you to try any clothes on a virtual version of yourself, to bags made from old
clothing, and umbrellas with changeable handles and covers. It was very interesting to see not only how
different each group’s ideas were, but how most groups made very unique pitches
– including singing, dancing, and clear explanations of their ideas and
financial information.
The day concluded
with the pitches from the six final groups made on the stage in front of the
rest of Year 10, a panel of business experts and many members of staff. As well as simply pitching their ideas, the
students were put to the test by the judges who asked questions about each
business idea, quizzing each group on their products, brand and financial
predictions. A short break then followed as the judges left the room to discuss
what they had seen and heard and make a decision on the winner of the day. The
winning idea was a range of clothing for young people with disabilities,
supporting Chailey Heritage School as their chosen charity (I can’t help
feeling this was a better idea than the group that presented wet suits for fish
– as unique as that might have been!).
I would like to say
thank you to Miss Thompson and all of the business experts who made the day
possible, as it was an enjoyable and valuable experience for everyone in Year
10.
